SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Spoonixel Amateur movie with Big budget

bkoganbing The title role in That Brennan Girl is played by Mona Freeman who learned early and hard to be a cynic. This was a loan out role for Freeman for this Republic production because at her home studio of Paramount she was normallyy playing sweet young ingenues.Freeman has a great example set to her by her mother June Duprez who says land a man with a bank account and hang on tight. Still she's a romantic sort and does fall for sailor William Marshall.It all ends tragically for her when Marshall is killed during the war. But he's left something behind and that forces an attitude readjustment.Top billed however in That Brennan Girl is James Dunn who was a lead in the 30s with Fox but who gradually fell out of top tier parts and studios due to a drinking problem. But winning an Oscar for A Tree Grows In Brooklyn the previous year gave his career a temporary rebound.He's an Irish-American gangster who's between Duprez's and Freeman's age sparks an interest in both. He too undergoes a change in life as only a stretch in the joint might affect some. In many ways this is similar to the part he played in A Tree Grows In Brooklyn.Freeman is the real revelation here. You won't find her in too many roles like this one.

boblipton Mona Freeman was brought up by a tough, money-hungry, shady, single mother -- June Duprez in quite a change from her role in THE THIEF OF BAGDAD -- and soon falls in with grifting James Dunn. When she steals a watch from a drunk military man, Dunn shows some patriotism and tells her to give it back.... and she winds up married, a war widow and struggling to keep her baby in this movie directed by Alfred Santell.Miss Freeman was 20 when she made this movie, but she always seemed younger than she was, a factor which hampered her screen career; in this, she looks quite convincing in the opening scene as a 14-year-old girl buying a flower for her mother. She gives a fine, layered performance, but the script, from a story by Adele Rogers St. John, tries to cover too many bases, half tough-girl drama, half weepy-mother-loses-baby soap, with a dose of judicial moralizing and a dash of miraculous intervention. As a result, her characterization, and that of James Dunn, fresh off an Academy Award win for A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN may seem not so much nuanced as inconsistent.I think not. I think it's a good movie, although I find the first half more interesting. That, however, is largely because I don't care for weepy melodramas. Judging by the record, no one was particularly impressed by this picture at the time. Dunn's career resumed its slide, aided by alcoholism; Freeman worked in minor movies for another ten years, then in television until 1972; and Santell, whose directorial career had begun in 1916, and who lived until 1981, never directed another movie.

twhiteson Along with a few other reviewers, I caught this last night as part of TCM's spotlight on the restored films of the long defunct Republic Studios. Aside from its John Wayne vehicles, Republic was known as a 2nd tier studio with limited budgets and usually rented/free agent acting talent. "That Brennan Girl" is example of one its budgeted melodramas with a cast of talents on the downside of their careers.The plot: Set in 1930's-40's San Francisco when it was known for its large Irish-American population, young teenager "Ziggy Brennan" (Mona Freeman) is raised by her cynical single mother, "Nat" (June Duprez), to use her good looks and feminine charms to take what she can get out of sap-hearted men. By the time she's in her late teens, Ziggy is a petty thief and con-artist who enjoys a good time drinking and clubbing. During one of her soirees, she runs into "Denny Reagan" (James Dunn) a middle-aged grifter who quickly IDs her as a fellow con and employs her in his scams. Although presenting himself to the world as a hard-hearted cynic, Reagan is devoted to his kindly mother (Dorothy Vaughan) from whom he hides his actual profession. And it's his affection for his mother that leads him to cause Ziggy to make a life-changing decision when he urges her to return an item she stole off a sailor on shore-leave, "Mart Neilson" (William Marshall).That leads to Ziggy and Neilson marrying, but soon leaving her a widow with a baby. Although she loves her child, Ziggy is still a girl herself and has no clue how to be a good mother. She struggles with her desire to enjoy being young and pretty and her new responsibilities. Along the way, Denny, who has received a harsh wake-up call as to his career decisions, tries to help steer her towards the straight and narrow, but can she depart the mold that her mother created for her?This was an odd movie. It starts out as a fairly interesting character study of a girl being sent down a tough path by a misguided parent, but ends-up as a fairy-tale about broken people finding love, happiness, and babies. The disjointed and rather silly 3rd act hurts the film.The casting is odd. June Duprez as Mother Brennan was definitely cast against type. Remembered for playing aristocratic, well-mannered beauties in the British classics: "The Thief of Bagdad" (1940) and "The Four Feathers" (1939), here she is playing a cynical slattern who lies about her daughter being her sister and wants no part of being a grandmother. James Dunn trying to cash-in on his career performance in 1945's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" got top billing and certainly plays well the role of an Irish-American charmer, but the ridiculous disparity in age between himself and Miss Freeman undermines their story arc.Still, it held my interest mainly due the performance of Miss Freeman. Apparently, the 20 year old Freeman had been chomping at the bit to break-out of the teenage ingenue roles that had so far been her film career. So, she leaped at the chance to play the sadder-but-wiser Ziggy. Although Ziggy is still a very young woman, she's no child. She dresses and acts like an adult although one that still has a lot to learn. Freeman does a very nice job with the role and her performance is the best thing about the film. (Also, she's very nice to look at especially in those 1940's outfits!) Sadly but understandably, "That Brennan Girl" didn't find an audience in 1946. So, it didn't help the struggling careers of Ms. Duprez or Mr. Dunn. And it certainly didn't help Miss Freeman escape playing wide-eyed teenagers. The movie she did immediately after this film, 1947's "Dear Ruth," saw her once again donning bobby-sox and saddle shoes and playing a 14-15 yr old child.

Linda (lindaz) Raised by a flamboyant and irresponsible mother, Ziggy Brennan (played by Mona Freeman) gets involved in hustling men at a young age. She hangs around with a wild crowd and learns gets her "street smarts" first from her mother (who wants everyone to think they are sisters) then from an older man. He starts teaching her his tricks of the trade and she falls right in line with his crooked ways. Then one night she meets a tall, handsome, honest farmer boy who's a soldier and they fall in love. While he's away fighting the war, she discovers she's pregnant.I won't say more so as not to spoil it. But I found the ethics that this film teaches to be something sorely missing in our films nowadays. Suffice it to say that even though she goes through some heartbreaking experiences, she reforms her ways and there is a happy ending.Probably not a film that most young people would enjoy. Not any action and some parts drag a bit, but it's Frank Capra type of message left me with a good feeling. Baby-boomers will most likely love it.